The Great Doctrines of Grace

This book, What’s So Great about the Doctrines of Grace?, has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I think its small size, at just 100 pages including endnotes, was the cause of the neglect, hiding between more grown-up-looking volumes and minding its own business. Anyway, it’s down now, and I began reading late last night.

The topic, as you can see, is the doctrines of grace, or those doctrines commonly known as (cue scary music) Calvinism. Calvinism has a widely-held reputation of being cold, hard, and cruel. But nothing could be farther from the truth. These doctrines are the most warm, comforting, encouraging truths I have ever learned. Richard Phillips speaks my mind from the very first paragraph:

I love the doctrines of grace. I love them as doctrines, that is, as biblical teachings that are sublime and wonderful beyond all human expectation. There can hardly be thrills greater to the mind than those produced by the central doctrines of the Reformed faith. But I especially love these doctrines because of their marvelous theme: the sovereign grace of God for unworthy sinners. For even greater than their enlightening effect on the mind, the doctrines of God are utterly transforming to the believing heart. To love the doctrines of grace is to love God as He has revealed Himself in His Word. He is “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10), and unless we anchor our faith in the fullness of grace taught in Scripture, we will never glorify God for our salvation as He so richly deserves.